Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon: Do You Need A Business Ultrabook?

You're ready right? For the ultrabooks, of course. While HP kicked off the spring laptop refresh season with its new HP Envy Spectre XT ultrabook last week, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook is just coming out of hiding.

And it might just be the business-grade ultrabook that the IT guy ordered. The very thin laptop has a 14-inch screen but only weighs three pounds. (Lenovo says that's the lightest 14-inch ultrabook, but that HP has a similar 14.5-inch display and only weighs 3.07 pounds.)

However, what Lenovo is really touting is its build quality, and as you can tell from its name, it's made of a strong or "resilient" carbon fiber.

On top of the durable chassis, Lenovo has perfected its always-comfortable keyboard by adding a backlight. It is giving users a choice between a trackpad and the traditional pointing stick to control the mouse. The X1 Carbon also has a bright display with a 1600 x 900 resolution.

The X1 Carbon, like most of the new laptops being announced this month, is powered by Intel's new line of processors, codenamed Ivy Bridge. The new processors will be faster than the current generation, but also provide better graphics. But, Lenovo's also doing some work of its own to improve how the laptop performs; its RapidCharge technology will charge the battery in 30 minutes. It also has Intel's vPro technology for IT management.

Lenovo's not revealing the price of the X1 Carbon just yet, but it will be released this summer along with the loads of other new laptops with Intel's fresh silicon.